


Trust

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 08:47:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13830645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Jim has trust issues





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2018 Sentinel Bingo prompt 'epiphany'

Trust

by Bluewolf

Jim Ellison had never been a man to trust readily.

He had learned distrust when he was still very young. Most people who knew about his family history thought it had begun when his mother left, and that had certainly done nothing but strengthen his fear of being betrayed. But it had actually begun fully two years earlier when a school 'friend' blamed him for doing something another of the boy's friends had done. He had thought Damon was his best friend; the discovery that he was only one of several friends Damon had, and not the best liked of them either, had come as a shock.

He had never totally trusted anyone since Damon's... well, betrayal.

His father's brainwashing along the lines of "You can't trust anyone but yourself!" hadn't helped. Neither had his brother's attitude - which was totally the result of William Ellison's not-so-subtle push to create competition between the brothers, to teach them to be self-sufficient.

Jim's instinct to protect others - which was part of the sentinel mindset he had pushed into a corner of his mind and forgotten about after a particularly vicious scolding from his father about 'making things up' - did remain part of his basic nature. It meant that even when Stevie - like Ronan - blamed him for things he hadn't done, he denied the accusations but didn't make any counter accusations. But it really galled him when his father chose to believe Stevie's lies.

So it meant that Jim didn't trust his father either.

***

Oddly, in Peru he did trust Incacha, but he knew that he wouldn't be there for long - although it was longer than he'd expected. But then to learn that Colonel Oliver had just had his team declared MIA, and no search made for them...

***

He was a good cop, but - although he flatly refused to believe that Jack Pendergrast would steal the ransom money he was supposed to be delivering, Jack's disappearance was a further brick in his trust issues.

He did sort of trust Simon Banks and the cops he worked with, but it was a working relationship trust, not a personal one.

It was that basic lack of trust that killed his marriage. He couldn't believe that Carolyn would remain faithful... and his watchfulness, which he told her was care for her welfare, proved counter-productive. She tolerated it for a while, but his constant watchfulness got to be too much, and she walked out. Another brick...

Jim was surprised at how quickly he came to - yes, rely, on Blair after they met. Blair moved in with him for a week, and never left - they proved to be very compatible sharing a home. Days became a week, weeks became months, months become years... The two men even became good friends. But always Jim waited for the betrayal of his trust that had soured all his relationships.

He realized that it was he who betrayed Blair's trust when he read the introductory chapter to Blair's dissertation, but what he read made him feel betrayed. But he was surprised when Blair offered to destroy the chapter, saying he would rather remain friends. Gritting his teeth, he told Blair to hand it in.

But then came the real betrayal. The dissertation ended up in the hands of a New York publisher. Jim immediately accused Blair of being careless with his work, allowing it to get to the publisher with his name all through it.

***

Jim was desperately trying to look as if nothing was wrong - despite the ribbing the other detectives had given him - when Rafe, who had been in the break room, stuck his head around the door.

"Hey, guys. Sandburg's on TV. He's giving some kind of press conference."

Wanting - needing - to know how badly he was being screwed this time, Jim followed the others through to the break room. Blair was just taking his place at the microphone-laden podium.

Jim listened as Blair quietly and unhesitatingly declared the document he had worked on for years fraudulent; quietly and unhesitatingly threw away the career he had spent half his life working towards.

And in that moment Jim had an epiphany.

He had found the one person he could trust. Totally, completely trust. Blair would never deliberately let him down, never lie to get him into trouble, never blame him for something he hadn't done. Blair was more likely to lie and take the blame for something Jim had done.

He didn't know what would happen in the future; but he did know that whatever happened, he would never again accuse Blair of... anything. He and Blair would face the future together.

Friends, who trusted each other implicitly.

He wasn't even surprised - now - at how good that feeling was.


End file.
